Sandroni.Rey is pleased to present a group exhibition of portraiture entitled Keeper of Light. Works in the show include photography, drawing, video and collage by artists Ronnie Bass, Nicole Belle, Genesis BREYER P-ORRIDGE, Chuck Close, Abel Gutierrez, Whitney Hubbs, Chloe Piene and Aristides Ruiz.

Two daguerreotypes by Chuck Close—one depicting the artist himself and the other a portrait of a sunflower—form the conceptual basis for this group exhibition. In thinking about the daguerreotype within the history of photography, the inherently intimate nature of the object lends itself to a more current conversation about self image today. With the world in a tenuous state, people seem to be exploring the idea of self in new ways, bringing what was perhaps recently a larger projection back down to more personal encounters, either contained within oneself or in small group exchanges.

The artists in Keeper of Light embrace this more fragile notion of portraiture in using intimate objects and experiences to investigate quotidian aspects of life. Taken together their works reflect the vulnerability of the current moment in time that is yet to be defined, but has undoubtedly permeated recent conversation. As Nicole Belle describes, “I hope to make images that document nothing but resonate with something pre-conscious or at least pre-conventional—something current but out of time, local but not placeable, specific but not articulable.”

Ronnie Bass lives and works in New York. He graduated with an MFA from Columbia in 2006 and shows with I-20 Gallery in New York. Nicole Belle lives and works in Los Angeles. She graduated with an MFA from UC Riverside in 2008 and most recently was included in the group show Inside of Me at PHIL Gallery in Los Angeles. Genesis BREYER P-ORRIDGE lives and works in New York and shows with Invisible-Exports Gallery in New York. Chuck Close lives and works in New York. He has been the subject of over 100 solo exhibitions throughout the world and is represented by Pace Wildenstein. Abel Gutierrez lives and works in Los Angeles. He will graduate from the California Institute of the Arts in Spring 2009. Whitney Hubbs lives and works in Los Angeles. She will graduate with an MFA from UCLA in Spring 2009. Chloe Piene lives and works in New York and Berlin. She has shown internationally and most recently completed a solo show at the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes, in Nîmes, France. She is represented by Sandroni.Rey in Los Angeles and Barbara Thumm in Berlin. Aristides Ruiz lives and works in Australia. He is represented by Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe, NM.